An area of 357,022 km² making Germany the seventh largest country in Europe, compared it is about two-thirds the size of France, or slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Montana.

Germany has a population of 81,7 million people (2015); capital and largest city is Berlin with about 3.3 million inhabitants.

Official language is German (Standard German, German: Hochdeutsch), a variety of German dialects are spoken in specific regions. About 50 % of the Germans are able to speak English as a second language.

Federal Republic of Germany | Deutschland

Country Profile

Background
The Federal Republic of Germany is located in the heart of Europe. The nation-state
now known as Germany was first unified in 1871 as a modern federal state, the
German Empire.
In the first half of the 20th century two devastating World Wars, of which Germany
was responsible for, left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers.
With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western
Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The democratic FRG embedded itself in key western economic and security organizations,
the EC and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led
Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the fall of Communism enabled Germany's
unification in 1990.
With the unification of the two German states, the country became Europe's most
populous nation and strengthened its role as a key member of the European Union
and of the continent's economic, political, and security organizations.

Official Name:
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
local short form: Deutschland
int'l long form: Federal Republic of Germany
int'l short form: Germany
former: German Empire, German Republic, German Reich.

Government:
Type: Democratic-parliamentary federal state
Founded: 1949 (Basic Law, i.e., Constitution, promulgated on 23 May 1949).
On the 3rd October 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic
Republic unified in accordance with Article 23 of the FRG Basic Law.

Relaxed citizens in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin. It is since 1999 seat of the German parliament, officially: Deutscher Bundestag, Germany's only constitutional body. A full restoration of the historical Neorenaissance building was made after German's reunification on 3 October 1990. Image: kk nationsonline.org

Political system
Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. Its political system is based on the constitutional law, known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law) Germany's constitutional law was approved on 8 May 1949 in the city of Bonn, at that time the provisional German capital. The Federal Government and cabinet is made up of the Federal Chancellor and 15 Federal Ministers. Chief of state is the Federal President (Bundespräsident), but his role is more ceremonial, head of government and the nation's leading political figure is the chancellor (Bundeskanzler).

Official Government Sites

Note: External links will open in a new browser window.

Bundespräsident
Home page of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Federal President is the head of state.

__German Literature (very small selection)Bertolt
Brecht
The International Brecht Society Homepage, dedicated to the works and thought
of Brecht.Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe
Wikipedia entry about J.W. Goethe, one of the key figures of German literature.The Grimm Brothers
Well known for their Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales, compiled
by D. L. Ashliman)Fairy Tales
by the Grimm Brothers
Web edition of tales from the Grimm Brothers' Kinder- und Hausmärchen
(in German and English)Hermann
Hesse
The Steppenwolf's page (in English and German).Thomas Mann (Buddenbrookhaus)
Maybe you will miss Felix Krull at Buddenbrookhaus somehow; (in German).Karl-May-Stiftung
Site about the storyteller by the Karl May Foundation (in German).Perry Rhodan
The world's greatest space adventure series, in print since 1961.

New books in German
The web site presents regular reviews of new titles of contemporary German literature,
particularly recommended for translation into English.

__German Cyberspace Culture

netzpolitik.org
Platform for the right of digital freedom (in German)politik-digital
An independent information and communication platform in the field of Internet
and politics (German)Perspective Daily
First solution-oriented and advertising-free online medium from Germany (in German). Space Night
Space in TV.Telepolis
German Internet Culture.Timeticker
Int. Timezones, the exact time for every place on the world by Martin Zwernemann

Business & Economy

The German economy is the fifth largest economy in the world in PPP terms and Europe's largest. Germany is a leading exporter of machinery, vehicles, chemicals, and household equipment and benefits from a highly skilled labor force. Like its Western European neighbors, Germany faces significant demographic challenges to sustained long-term growth. Low fertility rates and declining net immigration are increasing pressure on the country's social welfare system and necessitate structural reforms.

Neue Aula in Tübingen. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen is one of the oldest universities in Europe and one of Germany's most famous universities, noted in medicine, natural sciences, and the humanities.Image: M. Weitzel